At the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in 2004, Prince walked on stage with fellow rock legends Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne and others to pay tribute to the late George Harrison with a cover of the Beatles’ “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.”

Dressed in a red hat and matching shirt unbuttoned to his stomach, Prince took the song’s final solo — burning through riff after riff of instrumental fireworks. Then he threw his guitar over his head and walked offstage without saying a word.

In a room of legends, Prince still had no equal. A sexual boundary pusher and devout Jehovah’s Witness, he was our first post-everything pop star, defying easy categories of race, genre and commercial appeal.